veryone has been talking about it — where are the Thargoids? Are the Guardians still around somewhere (in hiding?), and why is the galaxy so static? In reality, a recent Cornell University study suggests our best observations predict a rate of ~35 to ~75 novas annually. There stands a very good chance that the Thargoid homeworld could be located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) — a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way that is quite evident in the galactic map. One proposal for transiting human ships to the LMC could involve a megaship similar to the ICS Indra, equipped with an intergalactic hyperdrive (available only to large capital ships) and transiting docked player and NPC vessels to/from the LMC according to a schedule. And why have we not encountered more alien civilizations yet? Not all would need to be spacefaring after all — some could even involve the introduction of Dyson spheres or have still other motives for not exploring the surrounding galaxy very far. Could these ideas for system-managed dynamic content be somehow integrated into the game universe created for Elite Dangerous?

Astronomical Events

It’s likely that stars in “the bubble” (core systems) would have to be exempted for obvious reasons. Systems close to Sol going nova would pose a meaningful contradiction to the known history both of our own galaxy in reality and the scripted timeline for Elite (c. 2050-3404[-3410?]). However, having a star explode in-game would not only provide a spectacular event for players to watch, it could stir things up in some areas of the galaxy — especially those with Thargoid bases or fledgling human colonies, for example. And it would serve to add a whole new dimension to gameplay if a system like Betelgeuse had humans in it who noticed the death throes of such a huge star and had to escape either by jumping away or hitting supercruise in order to stay ahead of the large, destructive shock-wave that will surely chew up the last 2 planets in that star system.

Using Megaships to Transport CMDRs Inter-Galactically

The Wells-class Carier Ship (Source: Elite Dangerous Wiki)

I doubt we’re likely to see Frontier trying to model the Andromeda Galaxy anytime soon, much less provide the capability to transfer CMDRs there. Or anywhere else in the Local Group, for that matter. However, the Milky Way extends a halo of disconnected (and largely dark) matter around the outer rim systems for quite some distance (~30,000 ly, I believe I’d heard) and then there’s largely empty space until the much-abbreviated halo around the LMC gets encountered at ~150,000 ly from Sol. Although the Thargoids could originate elsewhere, it seems likely the LMC is the logical place to start looking based on how their activity has spread near to human-controlled space. And given that large jumps have been achieved with capital ships featuring docked CMDRs in the past, one thinks it only logical to rely on the superior ability of capital megaships to spearhead such an exploration effort.

After all: one won’t win any conflict with the Thargoids simply by defending human space and hoping they go away at some future date. What if they chose not to?

Aliens

It is my belief that aliens are likely to be more common than simply having one species occupy all of the Milky Way galaxy at a time. And it seems that with the ever-expanding exoplanet index revealing the likelihood of Earth-like worlds (not to mention the atmospheres of such worlds being catalogued by the James Webb Space Telescope or JWST set for launch no later than early 2019) will present us with irrefutable evidence concerning the likely existence of sentient species elsewhere in this galaxy soon. Should not additional alien civilizations be introduced to the galaxy now — while there is still time for fantasy species to be included?

Of course, one could argue a sentient alien civilization was destroyed in the Elite timeline already with the founding of the Galactic Empire on Capital (Achenar 6D) in ~2250 CE. This it itself could suggest others both in the Milky Way galaxy, the LMC and elsewhere beyond (though it’s not clear of what practical benefit there’d by to an attempt at contact from species too far away to be otherwise involved in the game).

The Update vs. Scheduled Events

I’d propose that adding some of the aforementioned concepts to create a more “living galaxy” could be done most simply via scheduled events that occur outside the PowerPlay update (which occurs in North America on Thursday mornings). Players interested in using a jump to the LMC could assemble at a predetermined location (perhps a “checkpoint”?) and dock their ship prior to the announced jump time. At the appointed time, an intergalactic hyperspace jump would occur and after a few moments cause arrival at a set of coordinates in the outer sectors of the LMC. From here, CMDRs would disengage from the mother ship and return when the schedule announced a forcast return to the core systems in the Milky Way. Costs would be associated with financing the jump and an early Galactic Goal might involve the creation of a starport at the arrival point in the LMC. Here, humanity would manage its beachhead

Comments and questions on the content presented here are welcome regardless of brevity. But my goal would to be to present the discourse to Frontier via their forms or through the public network services (Twitter, Reddit, etc.). Thanks for your participation!

MDR Trium’s videos are now being posted at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7ZBNd12ewr4KT74VKG06kA or http://bit.ly/CmdrTriumVFL if you’re looking for the short address. This may change once more to a shortened YouTube URL if there’s enough traffic to qualify for a custom URL. As for the VFL content pertaining to CMDR Trium, this new address will serve as a new permanent location so the old /apprefactory URL can be used for commercial purposes (although for the time being the @apprefactory Twitter account will still serve to provide related notices pertaining to CMDR Trium).

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